Bug's bite gets stronger

Tests in the UK found 20 per cent of cases are now resistant to cefixime – the first-line treatment for the infection – compared with none in 2005.

This is the second alert this year regarding drug-resistant gonorrhoea. Scientists in Japan warned of a “superbug” strain of the STI resistant to the cephalosporin family of antibiotics, of which cefixime is a member.

The UK’s Health Protection Agency has warned that the disease could become incurable if new treatments can’t be found.